Cindy Lamothe

The Atlantic

When Kids Have to Act Like Parents, It Affects Them for Life

Laura Kiesel was only six years old when she became a parent to her infant brother. At home, his crib was placed directly next to her bed, so that when he cried at night, she was the one to pick him up and sing him back to sleep. She says she was also in charge of changing his diapers and making sure he was fed every day. For the majority of her early childhood, she remembers that she tended to his needs while her own mother was in the depths of heroin addiction.
From as early as she can reme...

BBC

The health risks of maturing early

I remember the first time a stranger openly gawked at my bare legs. It was the summer before I turned 11; I was at a small convenience store near our home. The man stood behind my mother and me at the checkout line, staring me up and down. He looked the same age as my father. But it wasn’t friendliness I detected in his eyes.

As a young girl who developed early and looked older than my age, my mind struggled to catch up with the rapid changes taking place in my body. The stares from older men...

The Guardian

Let's touch: why physical connection between human beings matters

We humans aren’t meant to live in isolation – loneliness has been proven to cause serious repercussions, leading to illness and a 50% increased risk of early death.

In her New York Times Modern Love essay, writer Michelle Fiordaliso makes the case for unexpected moments of intimacy between strangers. “Touch solidifies something – an introduction, a salutation, a feeling, empathy,” she writes.

It turns out that these moments of connection, while fleeting, have a lasting impact on our wellbeing...

Healthline

Endometriosis: A Quest for Answers

On the day of her college graduation 17 years ago, Melissa Kovach McGaughey sat among her peers waiting for her name to be called. But instead of fully enjoying the momentous occasion, she remembers something far less welcoming: pain.
Concerned that the medication she’d taken earlier would wear off during the ceremony, she planned ahead. “I wore a purse under my graduation gown — with a mini water bottle and pill bottle — so I could take my next dose of pain medicine without getting up,” she ...

shondaland.com

The Benefits of Laughing at Yourself, According to Science

Call it a coping mechanism or a psychological quirk, but few things are more soothing to me than cracking a joke at my own expense.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve defused awkward social interactions by poking fun at my past mishaps (of which there are plenty!). I’m definitely not alone in this, either: Strange as it may sound, many of us are happiest when we can laugh at our past misfortunes and turn them into amusement for others.
Luckily, science has begun to see the value in self-mock...

thecut.com

To Get Better at Understanding Other People, Start With Yourself

Most of us spend a lot of time trying to parse out what make us, well, us: We scour the internet for personality quizzes. We ruminate endlessly over the things we’ve said or done. We pick teams — introvert or extrovert? head or heart? — and then filter our decisions through the lens of whatever label we’ve chosen.
If you want to figure yourself out, in other words, there are plenty of strategies within easy reach. Other people, though — that can be a little more of a puzzle. (It’s not like yo...

healthyway.com

Grieving 101: Healthy Methods For Processing And Recovering From Loss

Chris Navalta, 41, still remembers the haze of grief that engulfed him soon after his nephew, Robby, was shot in broad daylight in 2014.
“I felt numb. I felt like things were a blur and that there’s a void that can never be filled again.”
In his memory, the days that ensued can be recalled only in dream-like fragments. “I’ve dealt with death in the past,” the San Francisco resident says. “But never in this way where I was just talking to someone just a few weeks ago, and now he’s gone.”
“I di...

healthyway.com

The Realities Of Vanishing Twin Syndrome

You may have heard of vanishing twin syndrome—where one twin is absorbed by the other in the uterus during pregnancy—in the media over the past few years. One particularly stark example comes from the HuffPost story about a 2-year-old boy from China who “gave birth” through his abdominal cavity to his twin brother’s fetus.
What you probably didn’t know, however, is that the syndrome, while not as extreme as the story mentioned above, is more common than you might think.
A...

healthyway.com

Loneliness In The Modern Age: When Social Media Ruins Our Social Lives

Back when Chad Zollinger was still in college, he remembers that the first and last thing he did each day was liking pictures and following people on Instagram. At the time, the 26-year-old spent countless hours chasing after fans for a successful comedy account he created. Yet despite attracting over 10,000 followers, he found himself lonelier than ever.
Zollinger recalled that whatever he achieved was never enough. “When I hit 100 followers, I needed to get to 1,000. When I hit 1,000, my ne...

healthyway.com

These Seemingly Healthy Foods May Be Sabotaging Your Fitness Goals

It’s noon, your stomach is rumbling, and you’re trying to eat healthy. Scarfing down a bunch of guac for lunch sounds like a healthier choice than, say, scarfing down a bunch of cheese fries. The latter obviously has the bad kind of fat, whereas we all know avocados are notorious for being good (the monounsaturated kind of good), thus helping us fend off high cholesterol and belly fat.
So, this translates to eat as much as you want, right? Ah, if only.
According to Dianah T. Lake, MD, and fit...

healthyway.com

Essential Knowledge: The Dos And Don’ts When Using Essential Oils

Are essential oils safe to use? We got insight from experts who dispel common myths and answer our most pressing questions.
We’ve all been there: sitting at our desks on a dreary Monday afternoon, imagining the long, luxurious baths that await us when we get home—nothings beats those Monday Blues like good old-fashioned self-care! Bubbles are definitely in the mix (why not?), along with music, candles, and our favorite essential oil. Maybe we’ll spice things up and add in a few drops of laven...

Healthline

Can a Hot Bath Deliver the Same Results as Exercise?

Visiting a sento is a popular, age-old Japanese practice and tradition. And like forest bathing, it has many health benefits.

Yahoo!

How to set healthy boundaries with your neediest friends, according to therapists

For people in the helping professions — like nurses, counselors, or social workers — boundary-building can be challenging, to say the least. Contrary to the impression that these professional helpers are bottomless vats of compassion and objectivity, they are human beings first, explains psychologist Anjhula Mya Singh Bais.

Healthline

Why Your Hair, Skin, and Nail Vitamins May Not Be Working

They make a lot of claims, but do those claims live up to the science?
We’ve all had a funhouse mirror moment: Standing over our bathroom sink and noticing the way our pores have grown monumentally larger than what we’re comfortable with. Maybe we haven’t been getting enough sleep and there are now bags the size of Oreos under our eyes. It’s like going to the carnival, minus the fun.
As a full-time freelancer and mother to an active toddler, my beauty routine has taken a backseat, to say the ...

Healthline

Is Your Bag Wrecking Your Back?

According to the American Chiropractic Association, about of the U.S. population will have at some point in their lives. “Over time, the amount of strain that we put on our bodies due to oversized bags can cause some pretty serious pain and even long-term issues like muscle spasms or a pinched nerve,” explains Caleb Backe, a health and wellness expert for Maple Holistics.
If you’re experiencing shoulder, back, buttock, and arm pain or tingling in your hands — unhealthy handbag habits could be...